"Nobody Walks" is a bushel full of familiar indie-film devices held together by honest writing and charming performers.

The movie, having its Milwaukee premiere this weekend at the UWM Union Theatre, has impeccable indie credentials: It's co-written by Lena Dunham, whose HBO series "Girls" is the poster child for intelligent comedy; one of the movie's producers, Alicia Van Couvering, was nominated last week for the Piaget Producers Award, given to emerging producers, at the indie world's Oscars, the Spirit Awards. | Dec. 6, 2012»Read Full Article

Country star Joe Nichols is releasing his brand-new eighth studio album next Tuesday. But, fans can take an advance listen to the full track list of “Crickets” online now from Spotify below. | Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

Wines are sold by the glass; they’re mostly from California, but owner Jennifer Nowicki (below) hopes to add some from Wisconsin. Beer, sold by the bottle, are Wisconsin beers. | Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

'Theodore Roosevelt and the Assassin: Madness, Vengeance, and the Campaign of 1912,' by Gerard Helferich

If not for a copy of a long-winded speech and a spectacles case, Milwaukee's Gilpatrick Hotel could have been another Ford's Theatre — or Dealey Plaza.

Instead, the spot on Old World 3rd St. near Kilbourn Ave. — today, the home of the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee, but on Oct. 14, 1912, where a gunman shot and wounded former president Theodore Roosevelt — is barely a historical footnote. (The Old World 3rd St. entrance to the Hyatt features a plaque and some front-page reproductions from the day.) | Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Article

Early in "The Circle," a novel in which Dave Eggers indicts social media that's making us dumber by the hour, an outlier named Mercer offers a metaphor for the "insidious" power of the Internet:

"It's like snack food," Mercer says to ex-girlfriend Mae Holland — a rising star at the Circle, a Silicon Valley behemoth that has bought Facebook, Twitter and Google. "You're not hungry, you don't need the food, it does nothing for you," he adds. "This is what you're pushing. Same thing. Endless empty calories, but the digital-social equivalent." | Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Article

Dark tales

Old World Wisconsin, W372-S9727 Highway 67, Eagle, offers "Wake Not the Dead," featuring stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker and others. The dinner theater of horror opens Friday and continues over weekends through Oct. 27. It will cost $65 for adults and $50 for children 17 and younger. Reservations are necessary and can be made by calling (262) 594-6301 or at oldworldwisconsin.wisconsinhistory.org. On Oct. 18, 19, 25 and 26, the living history museum hosts evenings of ghoulish fun including haunted hikes, storytelling and mazes. "Halloween Legends and Lore" is from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. and cost $10 for adults and $7 for children under 17. It's not recommended for children under 8; no reservations are needed. | Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Article

Oktoberfest only just got started in Pere Marquette Park but if you're in a planning frame of mind, please note that downtown Milwaukee will flip the switch on holiday lights on Nov. 21.

That's opening night for the six-week Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival. The fest will include an ice-sculpting performance group; Danceworks; First Stage performing a scene from "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and Santa Claus. | Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Article

Wisconsin bands Collections of Colonies of Bees, Altos and All Tiny Creatures, which all have members in Volcano Choir (pictured here performing at the Pabst Theater Sept. 29), have released remixes of Choir single "Comrade." Pabst Theater photo courtesy of CJ Foeckler.| Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

With a spate of regional art surveys — the Wisconsin Triennial, “Current Tendencies” and the Nohl Exhibition — just opened almost simultaneously, it’s already a big year for anyone scouting unique species of Wisconsin art.

The very best art exhibits here in the coming months are one of two things and sometimes both: Connected to the larger world of art and its discussions, proclivities and ideas and grounded in this place and our art history, too. | Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

When a friend was preparing for a mastectomy, Falkman woke up in the middle of the night with the desire to carve a white marble breast sculpture for her -- and with a vision of a room filled with breast sculptures, she explains in her book. That vision ultimately led to a "Body Memories" exhibit of 28 sculptures show in many venues, including Milwaukee, Kenosha and Lake Geneva, between 1994 and 2006. | Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

Off the Clock was opened by George Stevenson and Jeff and Diane Toczek in the former Robert’s space in October 2010. The proprietor of Robert's, Robert Krause, is back in the business, operating On the Clock. | Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

You'll probably find out on "Metatisis," a Spanish-language version of "Breaking Bad" being produced in Colombia. The story about a high school teacher with cancer who turns to cooking methamphetamine to earn cash to provide for his family is the same. | Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

Sohrab Habibion (second from right) is coming to Cactus Club Sunday with his band Obits. He's currently listening to a song by Neu! and cited a range of artists, from tango master Carlos Cardel to punk group the Kids, as artists he admires. Photo by Alexis Fleisig.

Sohrab Habibion really knows his music. On the heels of his garage punk band Obits' solid new Sub Pop Records release "Bed & Bugs," and ahead of the band's Cactus Club gig Sunday, Tuned In reached out to Habibion to ask what music he's listening to. He listed five different artists--and we'll admit we had only heard of one of them. | Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

Folk culture has long glamorized those outside the law. And while the artistic impulse is familiar, the gravity of the violence portrayed in "Narco Cultura" is unnerving.

The film, which is being shown as part of the Milwaukee Film Festival Sound Vision series, documents the growing popularity of the songs, or narco-corridos, celebrating Mexico's murderous drug gangs as the Robin Hoods of our day. | Oct. 4, 2013»Read Full Blog Post(1)